ABOUT THIS ALBUM

BLACKENED ( the second release from GTRMAN)is a Symphonic Metal Masterpiece that boasts blazing guitar solos, mean, aggressive riffing and powerful musical moments usually only found in Orchestras or Symphony’s. It’s also filled with quiet, sombre musical moments that leave you wanting more.

Williams not only composed and played all the guitars but also played the Drums, Bass, Key Boards and Gand Piano for this Disk!!!

"Prelude To War" is one of the many highlights. A full on orchestra accompanies the big heavey metal drum section and the Marshall Stacks cranked to Eleven!!!

"Lost And The Undiscovered Soul" Is a classical Piano piece that it as beautiful as it is powerful.

"Platoon - Plight Of Man" harkens back to the days of Iron Maiden with cerebral power and aggression.

"SUMMER" is of course Antonio Vivaldi's masterpiece from The Four Seasons. Played by Williams with the flair and groove of a true disciple of Satriani.

The final product is one of immense power and grandeur...the technical proficiency is staggering, the melodies are instantly pleasing and ultimately this project stands as a masterpiece of instrumental perfection!

BLACKENED is like a work or art, something that needs to be explored many times to actually get and appreciate all the parts. If you’re into music that is above the norm, technical yet melodic, powerful and deeply emotional then BLACKENED is for you.

A progressive rock masterpiece that is sure to be a mainstay in your CD player.

I’ve come to realize that the musical side of Myspace is a pretty cool deal. It provides a democratic, open forum for everyone to display their skills. Certainly for a genre like progressive rock music that has constantly been shut out of the market by the major labels Myspace has been a godsend. Case in point GTRMAN and the disc Blackened. This is the music and performance of one Dennis Williams based in Ontario Canada. Essentially a self-taught musical genius, Williams performs all manner of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards to create what he’s subtitled A Heavy Metal Symphony in the Key of “A”nger.

The eleven tracks here, all pretty much instrumental, are first and foremost quite a technical display of guitar playing. Piano and other keyboards do show up from time to time, but this is first and foremost a guitar based CD and sometimes it gets really heavy. But while the sounds are definitely from the prog-metal realm, the musical composition is clearly from the classical side. The structure and musical arrangements of these compositions is quite complex and at first you might be forgiven for thinking it’s just not going anywhere. But on repeated playings one starts to hear the different levels of musical performance and it actually helps to know and think of this as more of a ‘metal symphony’, because then the musical structure begins to make perfect sense.

Track 4 – “March into Hades” [9:58] reminds me of Therion with its massed choirs and dramatic opening theme. Other times the music can be actually quite soft and reflective with Williams use of acoustic classical guitar such as“The Final Farewell” [5:15] or the more keyboard oriented “Lost and the Undiscovered Soul” [7:39].He also makes great use of sound effects and dialog loops to help convey the drama of the story. The second track “Platoon/Plight of Man” [14:48] is a good example of this where you hear voice clips from the movie Platoon with some atmospheric music in the background. Overall the more you think of this work as a symphonic piece in terms of structure and style the more you come to appreciate what William’s has created.

Blackened – A Heavy Metal Symphony in the Key of “A”nger is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you enjoy the music created by guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani or you can really appreciate some amazing guitar pyrotechniques then this is a disc I think you’ll really get into. Whether you’re looking for searing guitar solos, or some crunchy-double kick-drum moments you’ll find that and a whole lot more to satisfy your cravings from GTRMAN.

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